Washington clout works for and against Specte

Senate seniority a boon for incumbent, but can he unify Republican voters?

October 24, 2004|By Jeff Miller Of The Morning Call

After 24 years in the U.S. Senate, Arlen Specter has never had more power. And he's never been more vulnerable.

He has seniority, is chairman of important legislative panels and occupies an unofficial seat at the Senate Republican leadership table.

At 74, Specter is one election away from becoming the first Pennsylvanian to win five Senate terms.

But his clout in Washington hasn't made him overwhelmingly popular at home.

He came within a whisker of losing his party's primary in April. It cost him $15 million to fend off conservative Lehigh Valley Rep. Pat Toomey, R-15th District, who argued that Specter was an impediment to President Bush and the Republican agenda.

Now Specter's facing a combination of factors that could deprive him of another term in Washington.

His Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Joe Hoeffel of Montgomery County, contends that Specter is too cozy with Bush, too compliant toward the Republican agenda and too quiet on the problems in Iraq.

Specter's also being attacked on the right by Jim Clymer of the Constitution Party, an abortion opponent who is trying to capitalize on whatever discontent lingers among the conservatives who backed Toomey. Some Bush backers actually booed Specter at a rally in Pittsburgh in the summer.

Hoeffel and Clymer deny Specter's allegation that they're working "in cahoots" against him.

But acting independently, the result could be the same -- an election in which Specter fails to unify Republican voters while Democrats, fired up for presidential candidate John Kerry, carry Hoeffel to a narrow victory.

The possibility has Specter running as hard as ever, raising money at a breakneck pace, making appearances across the state and hitting his opponents with tough, negative ads.

"At this point in the race, I'm concerned about everything," Specter said recently. "At every point in every race I'm concerned about everything."

So far, Specter is holding his own against the lesser-known Hoeffel's underfunded campaign. Polls show him ahead but by narrowing margins. Still, it's a far cry from Specter's last campaign in 1998 when he crushed all comers, barely breaking a sweat.

In short, it's been a year of trials for Specter, a man with a sharp legal and political mind who has been in the public eye for 40 years.

Political comeback

Specter's story has been documented many times over. The son of an immigrant Jewish peddler, Specter grew up poor but excelled academically, earning degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University law school. In 1964, as a lawyer on the Warren Commission, he developed the "single-bullet theory" during the investigation of President Kennedy's assassination.

In Philadelphia, Specter ran for district attorney in 1965 as a Republican after being spurned by the city's Democratic bosses. He registered with the GOP after his victory and served two terms before being defeated in 1974.

After losing primaries for the Senate and governor, Specter made a comeback in 1980, becoming one of 16 new Republican senators elected as Ronald Reagan took the White House.

Over the years he's maintained a frenetic pace despite heart bypass surgery and the removal of two brain tumors. He plays squash regularly, visits all 67 Pennsylvania counties every year and travels overseas frequently enough to fill his outer office walls with photos of the world leaders he's met.

Specter says he's running for another term because he has "a unique role to play."

"If I don't raise hell over the National Institutes of Health, it's not going to be adequately funded," said Specter, who led an effort to double the agency's budget over five years.

Specter said he also wants to help Bush's education reforms succeed, to reform the nation's intelligence agencies so they'll be able to "connect the dots" to prevent acts of terrorism, and to stem the proliferation of nuclear weapons around the world.

"There are so many important issues to take," he said.

Leads powerful committee

Specter, an Air Force veteran, is chairman of the Veterans Affairs Committee. But he derives most of his power in the Senate from his seat on the Appropriations Committee, where he leads the panel that funds the departments of Labor, Education and Health and Human Services.

It's a power he uses to dole out millions in federal funds to Pennsylvania hospitals and universities. He's also secured funding for agricultural projects and defense contractors around the state. Specter says the money has been important to the state's economy and is one of the reasons he can do more than Hoeffel to increase jobs.

Specter plays a key role on the Judiciary Committee, where he has shepherded a long line of Pennsylvanians onto the federal bench. The committee also deals with civil and criminal justice issues and constitutional questions, and has oversight over the Justice Department and federal law enforcement agencies.